Performance Validity and Effort Indicators Flashcards

Under the Slick, Sherman, and Iverson (1999) criteria, what is required for a diagnosis of malingered neurocognitive dysfunction?

Answer: A substantial external incentive together with evidence of response bias

The Slick criteria require a substantial external incentive plus evidence from testing or self-report that is not explained by psychiatric, neurological, or developmental factors.

Why does current guidance recommend giving several PVTs across an evaluation instead of just one?

Answer: Validity can change during testing, and failing two or more PVTs is more reliable than failing one

Effort can vary over a session, and failing two or more independent PVTs raises confidence that performance was invalid.

An examinee scores in the borderline range on Vocabulary but very low on Digit Span. Why might a Vocabulary minus Digit Span difference score be used as a validity indicator?

Answer: Vocabulary is usually stable after brain injury, while Digit Span is easy to suppress

Brain injury usually affects Vocabulary relatively little, so an unusually large gap where Digit Span is much lower may suggest suppressed effort.

Which population is most likely to fail PVTs at standard cutoffs even when giving genuine effort?

Answer: Patients with moderate-to-severe dementia

Severe genuine cognitive impairment, such as dementia, can lower PVT scores and lead to false positives.

When an examinee fails PVTs, how should the WAIS-IV ability scores generally be interpreted?

Answer: As likely underestimating true ability and not valid for interpretation

Noncredible effort lowers scores, so the obtained results probably underestimate the person's real abilities.

In medicolegal and disability evaluations, the base rate of probable malingering or symptom exaggeration reported by Mittenberg et al. (2002) was about:

Answer: Around 30%

Mittenberg and colleagues reported base rates of about 29–30% in personal injury and disability cases.

Which statement about PVT failure is most accurate?

Answer: It shows that the test results are not a valid reflection of ability, but intent must be judged separately

PVT failure shows invalid performance; deciding why (malingering, factitious disorder, or other causes) takes more clinical judgment.